Out and About

Yesterday's big adventure was a success. 

We even got Pup back out to her favorite park for the first time in months. Unlike our boardwalk, we were pretty much the only ones there so social distancing wasn't an issue. 

The Mister was packed up and ready to go all morning as if were going on a road trip. He was very excited to be getting out of here for even a little while. We brought along everything we thought we'd need to stay safe and then some. 

The Giant's Peapod pick up was a breeze. We just sat in the truck and let the attendant put the bags in the back. 

We have a bit of a drive home so we pulled away, found a shady spot under a tree and packed all the bags in some big secured garbage bags to keep them from blowing away. 

It wasn't a big haul but it did get me some things that I haven't been able to get with delivery. I even have some fresh salsa and fresh guacamole in the fridge (!).

Now that I know what I can get from delivery and what I can get from pick up, meals can get a bit more back to normal. Up until now we've had a weird hodge podge of ingredients to use up. It's been interesting. 

Baby Steps

We took our first steps out into the world yesterday. I let The Mister, gloved and masked, get out of the car and put his bills in the mail box in front of the post office. That's as far as we've been out in the world since St Patrick's Day. We drive around sometimes but we never get out of the car. 

Today we take another big step. We are picking up our groceries curbside instead of having them delivered so I spent yesterday making some masks. Everyone here is wearing a cloth mask of some sort and The Mister only has our hardware store variety dust mask so a project was born.  I found a very simple pattern on You Tube that even I could follow and started an assembly line. 

Ta dah....they are not the most chic masks but they will work. Pup has a curbside pick up at the vet's on Thursday so we have to be prepared. 

The big problem was finding "man material". It seems that both mine and dad's stash is a bit on the frou frou side for The Mister. I'll take a deeper dive into the stash tomorrow. 

Sew Sew Sunday

I'm sorry to still be whining but I am still hating this new blogger thing. I used to be able to upload all my photos at once but now I can only go one at a time. It makes this whole blog thing a real slog. I don't want to sit here all day trying to post, I want to do stuff. Like work on this top. I had to rip it all out 4 times until I got it lined up right. If I have to do that with every row the thing will be a frayed rag before I am done. I tried every trick in the book to get it straight but it was not having it. I am almost afraid to try another row.

While I was in the sewing room Dear Jane got some attention. She has been very neglected. I am very happy to be on the last row of the block now. 

I am on the final edge of the rings quilt. I won't be sad to see the end of it. It was fun for a while but now it's time to move on. I've got another one ready and waiting. 

While I was in the sewing room I forced myself to stitch a bit on the Needles and Pins sampler. I haven't touched it since the big soaping adventure because it has to share the table with the soap stuff. This is the last bit of the flower border. I will finish it in June. I will. I will. I will. 

Argh.....

It's taken me two days to figure out how to upload and edit photos in the "New Blogger". It's a pain. I hate it. So how about a photo of my second garden cart? It arrived on Monday. It's a big one. This is pretty uninspiring photo but that's how things are going around here right now. 

How about a photo of the mess I made trying to Click and Ship some soap? I couldn't figure out how to coordinate the mailing date with a pick up date so I'll try again tomorrow. Between this and ordering groceries online this afternoon I'm all out of patience. I wish I had better things to share but I'm in a not so happy place right now. I hate to share other people's business but a close family member and her husband are having a rough time with "It" and I don't mean Pennywise. Yeah, so let's all go back to work and pretend it all never happened so we can bring the bug home to share. No one with good sense can think this is a good idea. Nothing has changed since February except more of us have it to pass around now. I could just SCREAM.

Whew.....

I'm still working on figuring out this new blogger thing. Let's just say its not the worst thing to happen this year but it's on the list. 

Under Construction

Blogger has been gently nudging me to switch over to the "New Blogger" for months now but I have resisted. Yesterday they said switch by June 1st or else. 

I started this blog April 5, 2008. Looking back at those early posts it was a pitiful thing. The year Daughter got married I started another blog chronicling that year. Oldest Son got married that year too. It was a crazy year.

 I stopped that blog after the weddings and had it printed.

I wish I'd had the sense to do this every year with my Araignee blog. Right now I am terrified of losing it all when I make the switch. 

I can't tell you how many times I go back and look up stuff on it. It's the encyclopedia of my life. The older I get the less I remember but Miss Araignee remembers everything.
Welp, you gotta do what you gotta do, so wish me luck. Hopefully I will be back right here tomorrow with a new look.
See you on the other side.
Fingers crossed.

Kitchen Update

 The big update on the kitchen remodel is that there is NO update. I am still vacuuming and scrubbing plastic covered plywood everyday.

My old wall cabinets are still in my living room holding cleaning stuff and pet supplies.

 Our food is still in boxes all over the floor of the big shared room that is my kitchen/dining/living area.

I am happy to say we have many more boxes than we did. Amazon has been keeping me stocked up on all the stuff I had tossed when we started to tear out the cabinets way back in the fall. I was pretty panicked. Now I know I can get pretty much everything delivered.

 Especially pet food. I think my mail carrier hates me. He was here again yesterday with a huge box and my Chewy order is on the way. Those 40 pound bags of litter are a killer.

 The only counter I have left is this little piece in the corner in between the sink and the stove. It seems it's all I really need. I'm actually doing fine with the tiny kitchen. I don't even really miss my big island anymore.

 I do hate digging through boxes to find all my pots and pans. That has been a pain but there is no where else to put them.

The downstairs is also a mess. This is the pile of flooring and tools we were accumulating before the lockdown. We have all the stuff to put down the new floor but we would have to rip out the remaining base cabinets and sink and with no replacement in sight that doesn't seem like a very good idea.

How are we surviving living in this jumble? A good sense of humor and the fact that our little mom and pop grocer down the street delivers.....booze.